Richard has ten years’ experience within energy policy, public affairs, and communications advising FTSE 100 Companies on engagement with the UK Government, devolved administrations, and EU institutions. He joined the Marine Energy Council (MEC) as Policy Director in January 2022 from SSE where he worked in a variety of roles including Head of External Relations for its networks business and as Project Director of the company’s Brexit preparations. He led the Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks’ (SSEN) COP26 engagement programme, launching a first of its kind international knowledge sharing partnership for distribution networks, alongside the University of Oxford, Enel and Ausgrid. Since its formation in 2018 the UK (MEC) has facilitated collaboration between, and represented the interests of, leading wave and tidal technology and project developers, supply chain companies, consultants, and renewable industry associations in the UK.